Connecticut to California – Day 10 – August 21, 2000

I trust you will pardon me if I want to stop the passage of time – right here – right now.

My dream has come true – and I want to just sit and savor this moment – I think – forever.

I have dreamed of riding a motorcycle from coast to coast – and today – that dream came true.  I am camped at South Beach State Park – right on the Pacific Ocean – just south of Newport, Oregon.  I sit here at a picnic table feeling the ocean breeze and smelling the smells of the ocean – the foghorn sounds every thirty seconds from the lighthouse – just out on the jetty.  I watched the sunset from the dunes this evening – knowing that I rode every one of the 4,133.7 miles to get here – on my Valkyrie Interstate.

WOW!

I must confess, this is a moment of extraordinary emotion.  My heart is singing and my eyes are crying.  I think that – at this moment – I am the proudest of me – that I have ever been.  There are no words to describe this feeling – I dreamed it and it became real.  Today goes into my life’s Hall of Fame.

Perhaps the ending of this day was foretold – at it’s beginning – when I went looking for the Pendleton Woolen Mills factory in Pendleton, Oregon.  I like Pendleton blankets – and I wanted to see what they had at the factory store.

I knew I had found something special as soon as I picked up the first blanket.

The leather tag sown to the blanket reads as follows:

“SPIRIT QUEST”

“With respect for those who sought their own destiny through a vision into the spirit world of their creator.”

There is a tag attached to the blanket with a further description of the spirit quest together with an explanation of the symbols and colors used in the weaving – perhaps I will leave that to the epilogue of this trip.

Suffice it to say that – as I sit here chilled by the ocean breeze – I am wrapped in the blanket – both physically and spiritually.  I guess I have always understood that this journey was to be a journey both without and within.

I didn’t look at the map of my trip through Oregon close enough, because I was startled to find that I-84 follows the Columbia River Gorge – just shortly after leaving Pendleton.  What a spectacular river trip this was.  I spontaneously detoured across the river into Washington on Route 97 – drove a few miles on Route 14 – then came back across the river into Oregon on Route 197.  Although the interstate is really beautiful – I longed for a little two-lane traveling – and found some spectacular views of the gorge with Mt. Hood’s snow-capped peaks in the background.

Much too soon I am approaching Portland – just get through it as quickly as I can – this trip isn’t about cities – get past the suburban sprawl.  Lying in wait for me on Route 18 – heading toward the Oregon Coast Highway – was a display of variety beyond imagination.

The juxtaposition of orchards and corn fields – of vineyards and wheat fields – and a little bit of humor too – would you believe a logging truck parked outside of a wine tasting bar?  Clearly this is timber country as well as cultivation country.

On the horizon, I see hills – and I understand that this is Mother Nature’s last hurdle before the coastline.  But these are gentle – the altimeter never reaches 1,000 feet – but the road is shaded by 100 foot trees – right at the road’s edge – the smell of fir is strong – and I slow down to enjoy it – it will be awhile before I am back among the trees.  The temperature drops 20 degrees – it was 85 in the valley – it is 65 in the trees.

I reach the end of 18 and turn south on 101 – The Oregon Coast Highway.  I get my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean at Lincoln City.  Just a few miles south I find South Beach State Park and my first night of camping on this trip.

And now, if you don’t mind, I’m just going to enjoy this feeling.  I’ll fall asleep tonight smelling the ocean and the wood smoke – and listening to the fog horn in the distance – and maybe dream a new dream.

The bike trip meter says 344.9 the Garmin III+ trip meter says 355.0 and I say Goodnight from South Beach State Park, Oregon.

Connecticut Yankee in Yosemite Valley- the Trek
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